Blogging has been proven to be one of the most successful modern marketing methods available to companies. According to data compiled by HubSpot, businesses that blog produce 67% more leads on a monthly basis than companies that don’t.
For a while now, blogging has served as a fundamental backbone for many digital marketing campaigns run by all sorts of tech-savvy businesses. But as many of them find out relatively quickly, producing blog content consistently is nowhere near as easy as it seems.
The key to success with blogging is consistency. And the key to consistency is being able to generate lots of good blog topics.
The right blog topics will resonate with your intended audience, drawing them to your web presence as you create new content each week and month. Eventually, if you’re really successful, they’ll look to you as an authority in your field.
It all starts with successful blog topic creation. Here are the best tips and tactics for coming up with interesting content topics.
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Perform Keyword Research
On a fundamental level, keyword research simply means the identification of high-volume keywords that your target audience searches for often.
Once you understand the kinds of keywords they are searching for, you can reverse engineer blog topics from them based on the most popular search terms.
For an extremely simple example, let’s say you run a T-shirt store in Indianapolis. After performing some keyword research, you determine the most popular color of t-shirt being searched about is black.
You could use this information to create blog topics in a number of different ways. You might write about the best types of fabric used to make black T-shirts. If your blog has more of a fashion angle, you could write about the best ways to style a black t-shirt in an outfit.
To keep the topic current, you might identify a few examples of celebrities who looked excellent in a black t-shirt and compile them into a single blog post.
All of these different blog topics can come from a single popular keyword. With a little creativity and outside-the-box thinking, keyword research can be an endless source of good blog topics.
To learn more about the specific process of keyword research, check out our recent blog post on the subject.
Draw From Expert Quotes and Tweets
Whether you want to call them influencers, gurus, or subject matter experts, every industry has its share of people and organizations that hold a large amount of sway in their field. Some of them have shown a track record of success in the industry, while others may just have a large following.
No matter the sector, the one thing these experts all have in common is they typically like to publish frequently on many different channels. Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube are popular destinations for these folks, but LinkedIn is also a great place to find this type of content for B2B industries.
Expert opinions give you a fertile stream of inspiration for blog topics. Let’s say your services help SaaS startups create better marketing emails. If a marketing influencer tweets about the importance of email in a specific industry, you could create a blog topic elaborating on how effective email marketing is in that industry.
If you have it, you could even include case study data on how your offering has helped companies in these industries previously. This accomplishes two goals: helping your blog stay relevant, and informing prospects on how you can solve their email challenges.
Check out competing blogs
Even the most niche industries have at least a handful of blogs that are popular with customers online. These can be a great place from which to draw inspiration for your own business blog – particularly if you are new to blogging as a marketing method.
The key to drawing blog topic inspiration from competitors is letting them inspire you – not stealing their topics.
For example, if they’ve been writing excellent recaps of important conferences or events in your industry, you might start a blog topic series.
But to avoid competing with them on the same topics, you might choose smaller events or conferences only in your specific area. You might even be able to create better quality content if you focus on local events that you can actually attend.
Ask your team for input
One of the most overlooked sources of inspiration for content is something you interact with almost every day: your existing employees and contractors.
Anyone responsible for marketing work in or for your business likely already has experience working on blog topics. But even if they don’t perform work directly related to sales or marketing, your team can probably still provide some unexpectedly relevant blog topic inspiration.
This is especially true for parts of your business that interact with the customer. For example, your support team should have a good sense of the most common problems faced by your customers – it’s literally their job to deal with these problems!
If you run a software business and you haven’t asked your support team about the most common customer challenges, you are doing your marketing a disservice.
A quick 15 or 20-minute interview with a support agent, inside sales rep, or another employee in your business can provide a plethora of valuable blog topics to use for inspiration to create content.
Present a definitive stance
It’s certainly valuable to blog about news in your industry or provide updates on internal company events. It’s important to help people get the information they need to accomplish their goals, especially if you’re in a B2B industry that solves serious enterprise-level problems.
But if you really want to get attention for your blog, you have to do more than present information: you should have an opinion on it.
This tip can easily be coupled with the one above about incorporating tweets and quotes from experts and other influencers. Did a high-profile figure in your industry write an article that you disagree with?
Respond to it on your blog and explain what they’re missing. And remember, you don’t always have to present a contrarian view.
If a competitor talks about how they are working to conserve the environment, you could create your own blog post reiterating the importance of environmental conservation and highlighting your own efforts in the area.
For best results, make these efforts ongoing. Spend some time updating old posts as new information becomes available. This gives you additional blog material and also shows that you care about being relevant.
Final thoughts on creating blog topics
It’s easy to get intimidated by a blank page or spreadsheet when you’re under pressure to create hard-hitting blog topics that drive results for your business. If you’re a seasoned blogger, you may feel like there aren’t any more topics left to cover.
Fortunately, there are always new places to draw inspiration for your blog if you think creatively. Using the tips mentioned in this article will provide you with a solid foundation for consistent blogging.
But if you want to maximize the growth you enjoy from blogging, it might make sense to outsource the task of creating blog topics to a specialist.
Credo can connect you with our network of vetted digital marketing providers who have deep experience across the most common digital marketing disciplines like SEO, blogging, and more. Whether you’re looking to improve your existing blog calendar or develop a comprehensive new strategy for content marketing, we can match you with the right providers for your needs.
If you’re ready to shorten the amount of time it takes you to bring on the marketing partner you need for consistent growth, schedule a free consultation with us today to learn how to get started.
